Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo was recently asked how he would feel about being the team’s No. 1 option.
Based on his answer, he’s more focused on team success than individual success.
“Listen, the biggest thing to me is winning,” Adebayo said. “If [Coach Erik Spoelstra] tells me, ‘Look, you’ve got to be the No. 1 option,’ I’ll put my hat on and be the No. 1 option. I feel like being a No. 1 option doesn’t mean getting up the most shots. You’ve had guys like Lou Will (Lou Williams) who is the sixth man who probably had more shot attempts.”
Adebayo also emphasized that there’s a lot more to the game of basketball than simply scoring.
“For me the No. 1 option just means I’ve got to make sure everybody is in their right spots, right time, checking foul counts,” Adebayo said. “Just being aware of everything and not just worried about scoring.”
Recently, one anonymous NBA scout questioned whether Adebayo wants to be Miami’s No. 1 option.
“I think Bam would rather be a Swiss Army knife,” the scout said. “I don’t know if Bam wants to do that [be the No. 1 option]. I think he’d be happy with 18, 12, and 6 type of numbers. You can see it sometimes, it’s not that he can’t be the man, it’s I don’t need to be the man.”
The former University of Kentucky star didn’t stick out as Miami’s No. 1 option from a scoring standpoint in the 2023-24 regular season. Both Tyler Herro and Jimmy Butler averaged more points than Adebayo did, and Herro led the Heat in field-goal attempts per contest with 17.5.
Adebayo was still a good offensive player for the Heat in his seventh season in the pros, however. He averaged 19.3 points per contest (the second-highest scoring average of his NBA career) on 52.1 percent shooting from the field and was also a reliable playmaker, as he dished out 3.9 assists per game.
Plus, when factoring in the impact that Adebayo had on the defensive side of the ball, he was possibly the team’s most important player last season.
Adebayo was a legitimate contender to win the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award. He ended up finishing third and also earned a spot on the All-Defensive First Team for the first time.
The only two players who finished ahead of Adebayo in Defensive Player of the Year voting were Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama.
Perhaps if Adebayo were to develop a dependable 3-point shot, that would strengthen his case for being the Heat’s No. 1 option. He did show a greater willingness to shoot the ball from deep last season compared to years past, considering he attempted a career-high 0.6 3s per contest.
Adebayo also attempted 2.0 shots from deep per game during the Heat’s stint in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, which came to an end in the first round at the hands of the Boston Celtics.